The present invention is related to an insulating building block. More particularly, the present invention is related to an insulating building block which is obtained by applying a layer of a foam material to an interior side face of a hollow masonry building block, thus providing a building block having improved energy-saving features.
Previous masonry building blocks having insulating features have included blocks such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,704,562 and 3,885,363. These patents are directed to the use of preformed inserts of foam material for building blocks. The use of such inserts has been accompanied by various disadvantages, including the requirement that the insert be formed as a separate unit which must then be inserted into the cavities or hollow portions of the building blocks. Such usage gives rise to various problems, including lack of proper fit of the insert in a particular building block.
By the present invention, there is provided an insulating building block which is a composite of masonry material and a foam material. The insulating building block of the present invention is obtained by applying a layer of foam material to a longitudinally extending side face of each cavity within the hollow block. By the present invention, a block manufacturer is enabled to produce directly at his facility a complete, unitized product having improved energy-saving features over those of the prior art. With the present composite construction, a building wall is properly insulated as soon as the building blocks have been laid. Furthermore, the layer of foam material does not hinder the use of the cavities of the blocks as finger access openings for workmen handling the blocks during construction. In addition, an efficient and economical utilization is made of the foam material to provide a high degree of thermal insulation with a relatively small amount of foam.